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Geoffrey O'Brien

January 01, 1970

For the California poet, see Geoffrey G. O'Brien.

Geoffrey O'Brien (born 1948 New York City, New York) is an American poet, editor, book and film critic, translator, and cultural historian. In 1992, he joined the staff of the Library of America as executive editor, becoming editor-in-chief in 1998.[1]

Geoffrey O'Brien
Born1948 (age 75–76)
New York City, New York, United States
Occupation(s)Poet, editor, critic, translator, historian

Biography edit

O'Brien was born in New York City and grew up in Great Neck, Long Island. His mother, Margaret O'Brien, née Owens, was a theater actress, and his father was Joseph O'Brien, one of the original WMCA Good Guys.

O'Brien began publishing poetry and criticism in the 1960s. He has been a contributor to Artforum, Film Comment, The New York Times and The New York Times Book Review, Village Voice, New Republic, Bookforum, and, especially, to the New York Review of Books.[2] He has also been published in numerous other publications, including Filmmaker, American Heritage, The Armchair Detective, Bomb, Boston Globe, Fence, GQ, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Men’s Vogue, Mother Jones, The Nation, Newsday, and Slate, and has contributed many essays for liner notes for The Criterion Collection. In addition, his work has been included in numerous anthologies.

He has served as editor of The Reader's Catalog (1987–1991), a faculty member of The Writing Program at The New School, a contributing editor at Open City, and was a member of the selection committee for The New York Film Festival in 2003.

Literary style edit

Erudite but playful, O’Brien’s style as an essayist and reviewer is unique. Highly associative in approach, his dense, highbrow prose is often brought to bear upon the worlds of low-budget exploitation films and pulp fiction as well as more upscale and respectable venues of the cinematic, theater, literary, or popular music worlds. These wide-ranging pieces have been described as idiosyncratic “prose poems” [3][4] and tend towards partial autobiography in which he recollects youthful experiences as reader or viewer which — although they may or may not have been shared by his own readership — can lead deeply into unexpected aspects of the material at hand. Publishers Weekly noted "O'Brien's remarkable sensitivity" in Sonata for Jukebox, adding that "[m]ost striking, however, are the essays in which O'Brien explores the way music defined—and now defines how he remembers—his own formative youthful experiences, from the impact on his musical sensibility of his father, a popular radio disk jockey, to the way the pop music of the 1960s defined how he and his friends lived."[5]

Writing in Bookforum, Robert P. Baird described Early Autumn as a "book of elegant, often moving poems" "writ[ten] so comfortably in the elegiac mode that [O'Brien] sometimes makes us forget poetry was equipped to handle any other."[6] Nathaniel Tarn wondered whether O'Brien, in Red Sky Café, "endows these poems with such a flowing sense of narrative, so that, together with everything else you expect from a poem today, you get such a wonderful and rare gift: a story that you can read as such as if the poem were a novel in micrograms?"[7] Tarn concluded that "O’B[rien] is hands down the most elegant poet writing today."[8]

Awards and accolades edit

Books edit

Reviews and cultural criticism edit

  • O'Brien, Geoffrey (1981). Hardboiled America: Lurid Paperbacks and the Masters of Noir. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80773-2. (reprint 1997)
  • O'Brien, Geoffrey (1988). Dreamtime: Chapters from the Sixties. Counterpoint. ISBN 978-1-58243-191-8. (reprint Counterpoint Press, 2002, ISBN 978-1-58243-191-8)
  • O'Brien, Geoffrey (1995). The Phantom Empire: Movies in the Mind of the Twentieth Century. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-31296-6.
  • O'Brien, Geoffrey (1998). The Times Square Story. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-31846-3.
  • O'Brien, Geoffrey (1998), Bardic Deadlines: Reviewing Poetry 1984–1995, University of Michigan Press.
  • O'Brien, Geoffrey (2000). The Browser's Ecstasy: A Meditation on Reading. Counterpoint. ISBN 978-1-58243-245-8. (reprint Counterpoint Press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-58243-245-8)
  • O'Brien, Geoffrey (2001), Doing It: Five Performing Arts, New York Review of Books (One of 5 authors)
  • O'Brien, Geoffrey (2002). Castaways of the image planet: movies, show business, public spectacle. Counterpoint. ISBN 978-1-58243-190-1.
  • O'Brien, Geoffrey (2004). Sonata for Jukebox : Pop Music, Memory, and the Imagined Life. Counterpoint. ISBN 978-1-58243-329-5. geoffrey o'brien. (Paperback title: Sonata for Jukebox: An Autobiography of My Ears, Counterpoint Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-58243-329-5)

History edit

  • O'Brien, Geoffrey (2010), The Fall of the House of Walworth: Madness and Murder in Gilded Age America, Henry Holt.

Poetry edit

Anthology contributor edit

  • June Skinner Sawyers, ed. (2006). "Seven Fat Years". Read the Beatles: classic and new writings on the Beatles, their legacy, and why they still matter. Penguin Group. ISBN 978-0-14-303732-3.
  • Mary Gaitskill; Daphne Carr, eds. (2006). "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". Da Capo Best Music Writing 2006: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Pop, Country, & More. Da Capo Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-306-81499-0. geoffrey o'brien.
  • Eric Weisbard, ed. (2004). "Interrupted Symphony". This is pop: in search of the elusive at Experience Music Project. Harvard University Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-674-01321-6. geoffrey o'brien.
  • Richard Howard; David Lehman, eds. (1995). "The Interior Prisoner". The Best American Poetry 1995. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-80151-3.

Editor edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Geoffrey O'Brien biography, plus links to book reviews and excerpts". BookBrowse.com. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  2. ^ "Geoffrey O'Brien - The New York Review of Books". Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  3. ^ Review of The Browser's Ecstasy, New York Magazine, 22 May 2000.
  4. ^ Menand, Louis, Review of The Phantom Empire, The New Yorker.
  5. ^ https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781582431925
  6. ^ https://www.bookforum.com/culture/early-autumn-by-geoffrey-o-brien-6627
  7. ^ http://jacketmagazine.com/29/tarn-obrien.html
  8. ^ http://jacketmagazine.com/29/tarn-obrien.html
  9. ^ . Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.

External links edit

  • Profile at The Whiting Foundation
  • Geoffrey O'Brien's poem "Six Political Criteria" in Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts (24.1).
  • "Geoffrey O’Brien", Luc Sante, BOMB 65/Fall 1998

January 01, 1970
geoffrey, brien, california, poet, geoffrey, brien, born, 1948, york, city, york, american, poet, editor, book, film, critic, translator, cultural, historian, 1992, joined, staff, library, america, executive, editor, becoming, editor, chief, 1998, born1948, yo. For the California poet see Geoffrey G O Brien Geoffrey O Brien born 1948 New York City New York is an American poet editor book and film critic translator and cultural historian In 1992 he joined the staff of the Library of America as executive editor becoming editor in chief in 1998 1 Geoffrey O BrienBorn1948 age 75 76 New York City New York United StatesOccupation s Poet editor critic translator historian Contents 1 Biography 2 Literary style 3 Awards and accolades 4 Books 4 1 Reviews and cultural criticism 4 2 History 4 3 Poetry 4 4 Anthology contributor 4 5 Editor 5 References 6 External linksBiography editO Brien was born in New York City and grew up in Great Neck Long Island His mother Margaret O Brien nee Owens was a theater actress and his father was Joseph O Brien one of the original WMCA Good Guys O Brien began publishing poetry and criticism in the 1960s He has been a contributor to Artforum Film Comment The New York Times and The New York Times Book Review Village Voice New Republic Bookforum and especially to the New York Review of Books 2 He has also been published in numerous other publications including Filmmaker American Heritage The Armchair Detective Bomb Boston Globe Fence GQ The Los Angeles Times Book Review Men s Vogue Mother Jones The Nation Newsday and Slate and has contributed many essays for liner notes for The Criterion Collection In addition his work has been included in numerous anthologies He has served as editor of The Reader s Catalog 1987 1991 a faculty member of The Writing Program at The New School a contributing editor at Open City and was a member of the selection committee for The New York Film Festival in 2003 Literary style editErudite but playful O Brien s style as an essayist and reviewer is unique Highly associative in approach his dense highbrow prose is often brought to bear upon the worlds of low budget exploitation films and pulp fiction as well as more upscale and respectable venues of the cinematic theater literary or popular music worlds These wide ranging pieces have been described as idiosyncratic prose poems 3 4 and tend towards partial autobiography in which he recollects youthful experiences as reader or viewer which although they may or may not have been shared by his own readership can lead deeply into unexpected aspects of the material at hand Publishers Weekly noted O Brien s remarkable sensitivity in Sonata for Jukebox adding that m ost striking however are the essays in which O Brien explores the way music defined and now defines how he remembers his own formative youthful experiences from the impact on his musical sensibility of his father a popular radio disk jockey to the way the pop music of the 1960s defined how he and his friends lived 5 Writing in Bookforum Robert P Baird described Early Autumn as a book of elegant often moving poems writ ten so comfortably in the elegiac mode that O Brien sometimes makes us forget poetry was equipped to handle any other 6 Nathaniel Tarn wondered whether O Brien in Red Sky Cafe endows these poems with such a flowing sense of narrative so that together with everything else you expect from a poem today you get such a wonderful and rare gift a story that you can read as such as if the poem were a novel in micrograms 7 Tarn concluded that O B rien is hands down the most elegant poet writing today 8 Awards and accolades edit1988 Whiting Award 1994 Finalist National Book Critics Circle Award Criticism 1998 Fellow New York Institute for the Humanities 1999 Fellow John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 9 2002 Fellow Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Study Center Italy 2011 Fellow Bosch Public Policy Prize American Academy in BerlinBooks editReviews and cultural criticism edit O Brien Geoffrey 1981 Hardboiled America Lurid Paperbacks and the Masters of Noir Da Capo Press ISBN 978 0 306 80773 2 reprint 1997 O Brien Geoffrey 1988 Dreamtime Chapters from the Sixties Counterpoint ISBN 978 1 58243 191 8 reprint Counterpoint Press 2002 ISBN 978 1 58243 191 8 O Brien Geoffrey 1995 The Phantom Empire Movies in the Mind of the Twentieth Century W W Norton amp Company ISBN 978 0 393 31296 6 O Brien Geoffrey 1998 The Times Square Story W W Norton amp Company ISBN 978 0 393 31846 3 O Brien Geoffrey 1998 Bardic Deadlines Reviewing Poetry 1984 1995 University of Michigan Press O Brien Geoffrey 2000 The Browser s Ecstasy A Meditation on Reading Counterpoint ISBN 978 1 58243 245 8 reprint Counterpoint Press 2003 ISBN 978 1 58243 245 8 O Brien Geoffrey 2001 Doing It Five Performing Arts New York Review of Books One of 5 authors O Brien Geoffrey 2002 Castaways of the image planet movies show business public spectacle Counterpoint ISBN 978 1 58243 190 1 O Brien Geoffrey 2004 Sonata for Jukebox Pop Music Memory and the Imagined Life Counterpoint ISBN 978 1 58243 329 5 geoffrey o brien Paperback title Sonata for Jukebox An Autobiography of My Ears Counterpoint Press 2005 ISBN 978 1 58243 329 5 History edit O Brien Geoffrey 2010 The Fall of the House of Walworth Madness and Murder in Gilded Age America Henry Holt Poetry edit O Brien Geoffrey 1983 Maciste in the Valley of the Pagans Three Bears Press O Brien Geoffrey 1989 A Book of Maps Red Dust ISBN 978 0 87376 061 4 O Brien Geoffrey 1994 The Hudson Mystery Red Dust ISBN 978 0 87376 078 2 O Brien Geoffrey 1996 Floating City Selected Poems 1978 1995 Talisman House ISBN 978 1 883689 38 4 O Brien Geoffrey 2002 A View of Buildings and Water Salt Publishing ISBN 978 1 876857 55 4 O Brien Geoffrey 2005 Red Sky Cafe Salt Publishing ISBN 978 1 84471 071 3 O Brien Geoffrey 2010 Early Autumn Salt Publishing ISBN 978 1 84471 572 5 O Brien Geoffrey 2015 In a Mist Shearsman ISBN 9781848613607 O Brien Geoffrey 2020 Who Goes There Dos Madres ISBN 9781948017985 Anthology contributor edit June Skinner Sawyers ed 2006 Seven Fat Years Read the Beatles classic and new writings on the Beatles their legacy and why they still matter Penguin Group ISBN 978 0 14 303732 3 Mary Gaitskill Daphne Carr eds 2006 Will You Love Me Tomorrow Da Capo Best Music Writing 2006 The Year s Finest Writing on Rock Hip Hop Jazz Pop Country amp More Da Capo Press p 119 ISBN 978 0 306 81499 0 geoffrey o brien Eric Weisbard ed 2004 Interrupted Symphony This is pop in search of the elusive at Experience Music Project Harvard University Press p 90 ISBN 978 0 674 01321 6 geoffrey o brien Richard Howard David Lehman eds 1995 The Interior Prisoner The Best American Poetry 1995 Simon and Schuster ISBN 978 0 684 80151 3 Editor edit The Reader s Catalog An Annotated Listing of the 40 000 Best Books in Print in Over 300 Categories 1989 Second Edition 1997 American Poetry The Twentieth Century The Library of America 2000 Volume One Henry Adams to Dorothy Parker Volume Two E E Cummings to May Swenson O Brien Geoffrey 2004 Bartlett s Poems for Occasions Little Brown and Company ISBN 978 0 316 73501 8 Bartlett John Bartlett s Familiar Quotations editions 18th 2012 and 19th 2022 ISBN 978 0316375306References edit Geoffrey O Brien biography plus links to book reviews and excerpts BookBrowse com Retrieved 6 October 2014 Geoffrey O Brien The New York Review of Books Retrieved 6 October 2014 Review of The Browser s Ecstasy New York Magazine 22 May 2000 Menand Louis Review of The Phantom Empire The New Yorker https www publishersweekly com 9781582431925 https www bookforum com culture early autumn by geoffrey o brien 6627 http jacketmagazine com 29 tarn obrien html http jacketmagazine com 29 tarn obrien html Geoffrey O Brien Archived from the original on 6 October 2014 Retrieved 6 October 2014 External links editProfile at The Whiting Foundation Geoffrey O Brien s poem Six Political Criteria in Gulf Coast A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts 24 1 Geoffrey O Brien Luc Sante BOMB 65 Fall 1998 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Geoffrey O 27Brien amp oldid 1194002267, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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